Hay Festival 2011: Jo Brand on Jeremy Clarkson

The comedian believes the BBC would be better off without the Top Gear
presenter

Jo Brand and Hay Festival Director Peter FlorencePhoto: jaywilliams

By Claire Fox

1:29PM BST 01 Jun 2011

Jo Brand attacked the Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, last night for his “casual racism and misogyny”.

Speaking at the Telegraph Hay Festival she said: “He is like a naughty school boy who says things for effect to wind people up.”

Brand says she has suggested to the BBC that they would be better off without him. “The BBC used to do this thing called Talent Dinners. They said, ‘we want to hear everyone’s ideas on how you we can improve the BBC’. I turned to Jeremy Clarkson and said ‘you can f------ take him off for a start’.

“I was only winding him up,” she says. “But he didn’t like it.”

Surprisingly, the comedian and Bafta winning actress says she actually finds Clarkson to be “rather charming person” in real life. “That doesn’t mean I can stomach his public persona though,” she clarifies.